Start of Something New
by Llumii
Summary: How different would things have been if Troy and Gabriella met just a few minutes earlier at the party? Strong TroyGabi, mild TaylorChad and KelsiJason Slight Romeo and Juliet theme.
1. First Glances

Heya! First fan fic evar! Hope you like it.

Disclaimer: Don't own HSM, never will.

_Fifteen Minutes to Midnight_

I slid the microphone back into the stand, and took a step back. The boy who sang with me - Troy- did the same, and we smiled at each other for a moment, before he hopped down from the edge of the stage. He started to leave, but stepped back, and offered out a hand to help me down. I took it, trying to keep my own from shaking.

_Thank god that's over_, I thought to myself. That was so embarrassing!

"You were really great up there," Troy told me, still holding onto my hand.

"Thanks," I said, trying not to blush. His hand was warms in mine, and when he let it go, I missed the feeling, for some reason.

"Gabriella, right?" he asked me. For some unknown reason, I could feel a blush spread across my cheeks, and I nodded, not trusting myself to speak unless I blurted something horribly shameful out, like _I want your babies!_

Not that I do, of course…or do I? This guy was incredibly attractive, and by the way he looked at me I could tell there was a similar thought process running through his head. His eyes were amazingly blue, and I once he looked at me, I found myself unable to look away.

"And you're Troy, aren't you? I've seen you around here before. Who are you here with?" For some reason, my tongue was put onto autopilot, and a confident persona took over, and the words just flowed off my tongue, even though it felt like a ratty old rug in my mouth.

"My parents. We came here to do some snowboarding and stuff. What about you?" he asked me.

"I came with my mom. We wanted to get away from everything, because New Year is just so hectic at home, and we've got boxes everywhere. So we decided to come here for the week, and then we'll settle in after the New Year," I said quietly. The noise of the bar threatened to drown me out, so Troy motioned to the door, and we went outside.

"So, where are you from?" I asked him, trying to make conversation as we settled into two spare chairs outside. The patio heaters kept it from being too cold outside, and I was glad for them, because my jacket was in the hotel room.

"Albuquerque, New Mexico . I go to East High. Captain of the basketball team," he said, puffing out his chest as he did so. I could tell he was proud of himself. _Wait a minute_, I thought.

"I'm transferring to East High!" I told him excitedly. At least I'd know the Basketball Guy when I got there.

"Really?" he said, just as happy as me. After a brief moment, he regained his composure, and said, "Cool."

_Five Minutes to Midnight_

Troy and I had been talking for what seemed like an eternity when the man-with-the-microphone announced 5 minutes till the New Year.

"Wow. We've only known each other for ten minutes but I feel like I've known you for a year," he told me. I smiled happily.

"Maybe we're meant to know all about each other. Plus we won't have to do the awkward 'getting to know Gabi' sessions at school," I smiled shyly and looked away from him as I talked. I was getting to know the guy, sure, but I was still shy. He's cute!

"I'll need to find my parents after midnight, and I'm leaving early in the morning, so…can I get your phone number?" he asked, rushing the end part nervously, hands jammed in his pockets.

I nodded, trying not to giggle (such a girly thing to do) and the near-permanent blush on my face grew even redder.

I whipped my phone out, and snapped a picture of him beaming at me, before he did the same of me, and we traded phones to put our numbers in, before we gave them back.

I had to stop myself from hugging the phone in joy. _I have popular guy's number in my phone!_ That had never happened to me before.

Instead, I snapped my phone shut, and pushed it into my pocket.

_30 Seconds to Midnight_

We began counting down the numbers with the rest of the people in the resort, and I eventually grew acutely aware of his eyes on me.

_20…_

"It was really nice to meet you," I told him, unable to control my mouth. "I'll see you at school?" I asked smiling at him.

_10_

"Definitely." He said, moving closer to me slightly.

"I'll phone you every day," I promised, smiling softly, but looking down.

_5_

I knew he was looking at me, so I looked up.

_4_

_Wow. His eyes are so blue,_ I thought to myself stupidly. Somehow, they had managed to turn me to jelly with a single look.

_3_

Without me realizing it, we had both taken a step forwards, and were inches away from one another.

_2_

My gaze flickered down to his lips for the briefest moment, before I leaned upwards.

_1_

Our lips met as the fireworks began to go off around us, and people cheered. Not for us of course. For the New Year. Fireworks began to go off in my stomach, head and heart as we leaned closer together. My eyes were shut because I knew that if I opened them, even if it was just for a moment, I'd become too dizzy to stand. His arm snaked around my waist, and mine around his shoulders as a strange, warm sensation flooded through me. I liked this. I could get used to this.

And then it was over. We both seemed to come to our senses, and pulled away from each other slightly.

"I'm sorry," he said to me quietly, but his arm was still around my waist as he did so.

The blush was back in full force.

"I don't mind," I told him. "I might even let you do it again, one day." I winked at him.

"Well, that's the best New Years kiss I've ever had," he told me as his arm slipped from my waist. Without the support, I felt weak and shaky, a common symptom, I am told, of infatuation.

"I'd be offended if you'd had better," I joked.

I took his hand in mine, being bold for once, and leaned into his shoulder as we both looked at the fireworks display.

"I was told my first kiss would have fireworks," I mumbled. "And it did."

"Mine too." I looked at him for a moment, not quite sure if he'd just told me I was his first kiss. I didn't mind.

I settled back against him for a moment, before it was wrecked.

"Gabriella?" my mother shouted from within the complex. "Gabriella?" She came out of the sliding doors, and saw me with my arms wrapped around a strange boy.

"Gabriella, who's this?" she asked me, looking him up and down, as if to discern his credibility.

I pulled away from him quickly, and tried to rectify the situation.

"Mom, this is Troy Bolton. He goes to East High," I told her. She looked confused for a moment, before her eyes lit up in recognition.

"Oh, the new school?" Troy and I nodded. "Nice to meet you-"

"Troy!" came a voice from behind us. Troy looked up, and nearly winced in recognition. He straightened up visibly, and called out "Right here, Coach."

_Your dad's the coach?_ I mouthed to him, having put the pieces together myself. They don't call me the Einsteinette for nothing.

He nodded awkwardly to me, before he looked up. His dad automatically reached out to ruffle his hair, but Troy dodged him easily. And that was when he caught sight of me.

"And who's this, Troy?" He asked loudly.

"Oh, this is Gabrielle," he said fairly non-chalantly. Almost immediately I could tell that he was the parent who pushed Troy to succeed.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Bolton. But we have to go pack now, so I'll see you at school, Troy."

Troy stepped forwards and hugged me, and as he did so, he whispered to me _I'll call you tomorrow._

As he pulled away, I grinned happily.

"Bye, Gabi," he said as Mom pulled me away.

"Bye, Troy."


	2. Settling In

Hallor! Second chapter! woo, I'm updating something!

Thanks to sueci, carito06, Kathryn Mason-Sykes and blue-eyed bomshell for reviewing!

TTFN! Llumii

* * *

I was awoken the next morning, just four and a half hours since I had crawled into bed, at 7.30 by my mother. 

"Gabriella," she said softly, reaching out to touch my shoulders. My eyes opened, and I realized it was still fairly dark outside.

"It's almost time to go. Get dressed, and I'll make you a cup of coffee." I nodded weakly at her, before I scrabbled around on the table in search of my phone.

I was just about to call him when it rang, and my finger leapt of its own accord to the answer button.

"Good morning," I said sleepily into the handset. I heard him yawn on the other end of the line, before he answered with an equally sleepy "g'morning".

For ages we talked, and talked, and it wasn't until my mother came in with my cup of coffee that I realized I was supposed to be getting changed.

"Gabi, who are you talking to?" she said quietly. I put my hand over the mouth piece, and mouthed the name of a friend from my last school. She nodded in understanding, and left me to it

I put the phone back to my ear, happy to hear that Troy was still chattering away at the other end. I've never been this open with a guy before. I was so happy.

"Are you okay, Gabi?" he asked me.

I nodded, before I realized he couldn't see me. "I'm fine, but listen, I have to get dressed. So can you hold on, and I'll call you back."

"I have a better plan. You get dressed, and meet me down by the bar, so I can say goodbye to you face to face."

I blushed, and mumbled an "okay" happily into my phone.

We arranged to meet in half an hour, and we said our very long goodbyes, and waited to see who would hang up first. I had to when my mum came in to see how much progress I'd made, and I just smiled angelically at her, turned on my heel and left for the bathroom.

After thirty minutes of much needed make-up(something I've never used) and general rejuvenation (something I have never needed before), I left the bathroom, choked down my now cold coffee, and tried to find my mum.

"Mom?"

No answer. On the table by the hotel door was a piece of paper, which read

_Gone to lobby already, meet me there by 8.15, _

_Mom_

Great! That meant I had just over 15 minutes to say my farewell to Troy (and something else too)

It hadn't taken me long to realize after our 'meeting' the night before that there was most defiantly some chemistry between us, something more than simple infatuation. That's why I had to speak to him before we went back to school, so as he can mellow out if something goes wrong. The problem is, I'm not very tactful around people I like. For example, at my last school I managed to insult the only guy who had ever talked to me after about five seconds.

I ran back to the room, scooped the last of my clothes into my suitcase, and shut the lid. It wouldn't close all the way.

I had to think where I had acquired so many clothes from, and began to wonder, when my phone rang in my pocket. I whipped it out.

"Hello?" I said, as I flopped down onto my suit case again with a decidedly unfeminine grunt

"Whoa, did I interrupt something?" he asked me, laughing slightly.

"I can't close my suitcase," I said, letting out a giggle of my own.

His voice was tinged with laughter when he replied "Hold on, I'll be right over." There was a click, and he had hung up.

He was like my knight in shining armor. I smiled happily as my body filled with the warm buzz of anticipation. Within seconds there was a knock on the door, and it opened, to reveal the guy who made my heart want to turn to a pile of jelly, as well as my knees, but managed to remain composed, and shouted "I'm through here!"

He came through, beaming at me. I nearly died of happiness sitting there on my suitcase when he came over and simply kissed me.

"Want a hand?" he asked me. I nodded, and hopped off the suitcase.

"So, did you run here, or something? You were pretty quick," I said as he expertly pulled the zip around and the suitcase was closed.

"I was on my way over when you called me, actually. I was getting worried," he said, before he pulled me down to sit on the bed next to him.

"There's something I wanted to say to you, which was why it was so urgent that I speak to you today." He paused, and I knew I knew what was coming next.

"I know it's sudden, and we've only known each other…what, 8 and a bit hours, and I don't want to freak you out, but…well the thing is…"

For once I was the more articulate one, and, sensing his growing discomfort, I leaned forwards, grabbed his head between my hands and planted a kiss squarely on his lips.

After a moment, savored to the last, I pulled away, but rested my head on his shoulder. He carried on stammering for a moment, unable to articulate his sentences properly, so I put my finger to his lips, and told him exactly how I felt.

"I think I might be falling for you" I whispered to him.

That shut him up. He was silent for long enough to let it sink in, but he responded in a similar way. I nearly started to freak out when he didn't respond but he did, and in the best possible way.

His response?

He closed the two inch gap between us, and brought his lips down on mine in a searing kiss that could have lasted only seconds, or minutes or hours, but all I know is that it felt right. He pulled away from me, and his eyes seemed to search mine for a moment.

"Will you go out with me?" he asked me, fairly suddenly. I blushed once more, and nodded shyly.

"Don't be shy," he said to me. "You're beautiful. And the girlfriend of the captain of the East High Wildcats."

I leaned in to kiss him again, when I caught sight of the clock on the cabinet.

8.17

"Oh no," I shrieked. At his questioning look, I told Troy I had to go. He insisted on coming with me to the lobby. We stopped just around the corner from the lobby to have one last kiss, and, on promising that I'd call him, I left to go to my new home.

Four days after meeting Troy, four days of phoning and texting around the clock, we were finally going to meet again, but at school this time.

I traveled to school with my mother, and we went to the principle's office to get my timetable. He showed me to the hall that led to my class, and my mother tagged along. My stomach began to rebel, and I knew it wasn't good.

"Mom, my stomach," I told her.

"It's always like that on the first day of school," she informed me, as if I'd forgotten.

The principle flicked through my track record, and his eyebrows raised as he read.

"Well, Miss Montez," he started. "That's an impressive-"

"Gabi!" shouted Troy. I beamed at him, and the principle turned to look.

"I can take it from here," Troy said as he approached us. My mother looked at him, trying to recall his face.

Troy took me hand, thanked the principle, and led me away.

"Bye, mom!" I called back to her, and we darted up the stairs.

As we rounded the corner, he looked around, and leaned in to kiss me, softly, on the lips.

I barely had a chance to reciprocate before he had pulled away, and we were moving again, his hand linked through mine.

"Welcome to East High, home of the Wildcats." He gestured extravagantly, and I giggled at him, leaning into his shoulder.

"I missed you," I said to him quietly. "Four days is a really long time."

"I'll say," he responded. "I missed you too. So, what class are you in?"

"Miss Darbus' class," I told him, having read it from my schedule. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him punch the air.

"Is that your class?" I asked him, still a bit giggly. His presence was intoxicating, and I couldn't help but feel happy around him.

"Yeah," he said, and he pulled me closer and kissed my temple. We went into the classroom on the left, and almost immediately, everyone in the room stopped talking, and stared at us.

I managed to summon up the confident side of me and she lifted her head high, and walked down the aisle between the chairs, holding Troy's hand the whole time.

I sat down in a way I hoped was elegant, and let go of Troy's hand as he gave 'man hugs' to his friends. He dumped his surprisingly small bag down on the table next to mine, and went to sit down. Before he could a blonde had swept in, and perched herself on the table, looking coyly at him through her side-fringe.

"I missed you during vacation, Troy. What did you get up to," she asked in a slightly squeaky and incredibly saccharine voice.

"You know, the usual. Basketball, snowboarding. Have you met Gabriella?" he asked. She look in my direction, giving me the once over, her expression growing slightly disgusted. It quickly chanced to a very fake smile.

"No, I haven't." she offered her hand to me. "I'm Sharpay. So nice to meet you!"

She promptly got up and left, and I was the disgusted look return as she approached an equally blond boy. All of the students shot to their seats as the door banged open.

"Good morning, everyone!" called a jovial voice from the door, and a woman wearing a blue shirt and lots of chunky jewellery swept through the room.

"Please, take your seats," she said, and Troy moved away from me to sit in the seat in the next row.

"Ah!" she said dramatically as she reached my seat. "You must be Miss Montez. Everyone say hello to her!"

The class chorused their hellos, and she took her seat on the raised stage at the front of the room.

She went through a list of announcements, and I rested my head in my hands, trying to take everything in. My ears perked up at the sound of the Scholastic Decathlon team, and an enthusiastic girl called Taylor McKessie raised her hand. I made a mental note to talk to her later.

Finally Miss Darbus announced the auditions for the spring 'musicale', which I intended to make Troy sign up for with me.

I looked up at Troy, and he met my eyes almost instantly. I smiled at him. He smiled back.

Then the bell rang, and the moment was over.

People got up to leave, but Troy and I stayed where we were, until someone came up behind him, and smacked him had on the back.

"Bolton!" people shouted. "You dog, who's this?"

"Gabriella Montez," I said, answering for myself. I extended my hand, and a boy with an afro shook it.

"Chad. How do you know Troy?" he asked.

I blushed again (why me? Am I cursed to have permanently red cheeks?). "We met over the holiday."

Troy stood up, took my hand and helped me to stand, and looked at me, before he looked back at his friends – his team-mates.

"Actually, Gabriella's my girlfriend."

The expressions on their faces were priceless. Their jaws all dropped, and I let out a slight giggle.

Chad, the one with the afro, stepped forwards. "You mean, this is why you couldn't come to my party? Your new squeeze?"

Troy shook his head. I sensed tension in the air.

"No. I told you, I was on holiday. That's where we met."

Chad looked slightly shocked. "So you've only known her for three days?"

"He must really like you," said another basketballer, a tall dark one.

I frowned, feigning puzzlement. "Why's that?"

"You're the first girl he's ever gone out with, that's why."

_I knew it. _

"You'd better come to practice, Bolton. Don't think you can duck out just because you got a girl."

And that was it. The crowd of players left.

"Come on. I'll show you to your first class."

So there I sat in my first lesson, and dutifully copied down the notes from the board. One thing about the heavily pregnant teachers' calculations bothered me.

"You seemed very close to Troy Bolton in homeroom today," said a voice from behind me.

I turned to see Sharpay Evans, the girl who had effectively accosted Troy and I in homeroom that morning.

"I know. I met him before I came here," I replied, not letting anything on.

"I heard you're going out with him," she said rather loudly. A couple of girls in the corner turned my way.

"Not that it's any of your business, but yes, I am." There were some astonished gasps, and I was sure one girl burst into tears, but I turned back to the board.

"That should be 16 over pi…"

The heavily pregnant teacher turned and shot me a look.

"What did you say Miss Montez?"

"Shouldn't the second equation read 16 over pi?"

She gave me another, slightly pitying look. "_16_ over pi? That's quite impossible."

She tapped a few numbers into her calculator, something I had forgotten, and then smiled at me. "I stand corrected."

I smiled, and looked back to my work.

"And Miss Montez? Welcome aboard."

Sharpay looked disgusted.

Later that day I was pounced on by Taylor McKessie, who had heard of my teacher-correcting incident, and she asked if I wanted to be on the Scholastic Decathlon team, and I said yes. Only then did she tell me the first round of the competition was in just two weeks. Oh boy.

* * *

P.S. I know Gabriella is slightly OOC, but her relationship with Troy is helping her to be a bit more confident. And I know it's early for young types such as these to be in luff, but did you _see _the looks they gave one another at the teeny-boppers karaoke party? 

Llumii  
xx


	3. Trust You

Dear all!

I'm so sorry i haven't updated, but AS levels are such a bh. So here it is. It's been sitting on my hard drive for about half a year, and i decided to finish it today.

Again, I'm sorry. I'll try and put the next one up soon. Love, Llumii

* * *

Over the next few days, Troy and I managed to arrange secret rendezvous around school, and I was content with that. When Miss Darbus announced the auditions that day, I turned to Troy, and asked him to audition with me.

He flushed, and stuttered, but I finally got a yes out of him. But he made me swear not to tell his friends.

When Chad came up to him after Homeroom, with me clutching to his hand, he explained that he had to do homework.

"Yeah, sure. 'Homework'," he said, putting little airquotes around the word. "Don't let your 'homework' ruin your basketball career."

I think he was talking with euphemisms.

"Right. I'll catch you all later."

We went for the hall, but waited until no one was around, and slipped in.

A fairly awful singer was trying to impress Miss Darbus, but she dismissed the poor girl immediately.

Another girl came onto the stage, and the pianist began to play. Nothing happened.

"Thank you," said Miss Darbus, waving her hand to dismiss the girl. She fled the stage as quickly as possible.

I let out a snigger, but I ducked downs as Sharpay and her dimwitted brother turned and shot looks down the auditorium.

Troy and I had to stifle our giggles as Sharpay scowled, and we sunk lower in our chairs to avoid her looks.

When she finally stopped looking, we relaxed, and I couldn't help but notice how close I was to Troy.

He smiled at me.

I smiled at him.

We both came to some sort of mutual agreement, and leaned forwards to kiss one another.

The moment was broken when Miss Darbus said to the pair of people on the stage "That was …very disturbing, go see a councilor."

Troy and I resurfaced from below the chairs, in time to see Miss Darbus beckon to Ryan and Sharpay, and ask them to "show us how it's done."

After a brief tussle with the pianist, the curtains were drawn, and Ryan and Sharpay launched into a well rehearsed song and dance routine, while Troy and I found more interesting things to do behind the chairs.

Applause littered the hall when they finished, and Miss Darbus asked if there was anyone else to audition.

I managed to pull myself away from Troy and pop up from behind the seat.

"I'd like to audition, Miss Darbus," I said, making my way down the aisle.

"Single auditions are over, Miss Montez. Unless you have a partner hiding back there."

As she said that, Troy emerged from behind the seat, hair slightly smoother than it had been, and announced "I'll sing with her."

"Perfect!" she said brightly.

Ryan and Sharpay looked ready to kill. We made our way onto the stage and to the piano, and I felt a strange sort of confidence steal over me.

We stood on the far side of the piano, and the composer, a girl smaller than me who looked fairly timid, handed us the sheet music.

She started to play, and Troy started singing first, and I joined in on the next line. It was like being back on the stage at the hotel, singing together for the first time. It made my heart glow with happiness. The song was slower than it had been when Ryan and Sharpay had sung it, and I felt it was perfect. We finished the song, and gave a little bow. Troy slipped his hand into mine, and we turned to Miss Darbus to see how we had done.

Miss Darbus was obviously impressed, and was giving us a one-person standing ovation. Troy took my hand in his, and we smiled at each other.

"Fantastic! Brava!" the teacher gushed. "You have a callback. Kelsi!"

The timid pianist jumped. "Yes ma'am?"

"Give them the duet from the second act. Work on it with them."

She nodded, and began to rifle through her music, before she pulled out a couple of slightly tatty pages of sheet music, and began listing the times she was available to rehearse.

I smiled at Troy, and he smiled back. "That was amazing," he told me.

_So are you_.

My eyes were covered as Troy led me somewhere by the hand. I climbed steps and rounded corners, all the while blind to the world.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked him, giggling.

"It's a surprise. Are you ready?"

"Yes." He pulled the blindfold off dramatically, and after my eyes had adjusted, I looked around. It was like a little paradise on the school roof.

"Wow…" I said.

Troy smiled at me, and took my hand. "Welcome to my hideout. I come here to get away from things…and sometimes people."

"So if I never know where you've gone, you'll be here?" I asked as he led me to the bench. He nodded.

"I just wanted to ask you something."

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow for a moment.

"Don't worry. I just wanted to ask you where you wanted to go for our first official date," he said, rushing the last part. He blushed. I blushed.

"I don't mind. As long as I'm with you, I don't care," I said, and leaned forwards slightly to kiss him.

"And I jut wanted to know…why do you like me so much, Troy? I mean no one has ever even looked sideways at me before, and then you come along, with your beautiful blue eyes, and sweep me off my feet."

He considered my question for a moment, and I knew it had caught him off guard.

"Well?"

"I think that you are the most incredible, intelligent, beautiful, talented, vocally amazing girl I have ever met," he said. "And I don't just like you." Again, he blushed.

"I love you."

I nearly died of happiness, and I lost my guard for a moment, and confident-Gabi crept forwards.

"And I think that you are the most amazingly lunkheaded basketball player in the whole school, with amazing eyes and a voice to die for. And I love you too," she replied.

He looked at me with a gleam of _something_ in his eyes. Before I realized what was happening, he pulled me forcibly, though not against my will, into his arms for a searing kiss, which ended all too soon for my liking.

We separated for a moment, before confident-Gabi stole me arms, and pulled Troy towards me.

And then the bell rang.

Our lips were barely touching when the world's most annoying sound flooded up the stairs. I could feel his warm breath against my lips and I barely had enough will power to hold back, but I had to pull away.

_Shit!_ I screamed, but only in my head. I've never sworn out loud in my life. I dropped my head to his shoulder and sighed.

"I have to go. I promised Taylor I'd say hello to all of the Decathlon members." Troy smiled at me.

"I'll walk you downstairs. I have to go practice."

He draped his arm around my shoulders, and I smiled up at him.

Troy watched Gabriella disappear in the other direction, and didn't notice Chad, Zeke and Jason approaching him. Chad looked livid.

"What the hell is this?" he spat, thrusting the sheet into Troy's chest. Troy pulled it away from his chest long enough to read his name next to Gabriella's on the call back sheet, below Ryan and Sharpay Evans' names.  
"I found Sharpay having a panic attack over it, and now I can see why." He pushed Troy by the shoulders, back into the lockers.

"This is why you missed the training session in free period yesterday? To do some singing thing?"

"Hey, what are you so upset about? Gabriella-"

"Oh so it's her who made you do this, huh?" Chad said, rounding on Troy again.

"She didn't make me do it, I wanted to do it with her. And besides, the training session yesterday wasn't compulsory, so I didn't have to turn up."

"I swear, since that elevated-IQ with a body attached showed up, you don't have time for the team any more," Zeke put in.

Troy rubbed his forehead and pushed his hair back. "You guys, I'm for the team, but I'm for Gabi as well. I mean, I really like her, and I'll do anything to make her happy, but I'm still 110 for the team."

Chad's expression was far from happy, but he dropped it.

"See you in practice." The boys turned and left.

Troy spun around and slammed his fist into the locker. Passing students jumped at the sound of it, but a growl and a look from Troy shut them up.

After a moment, he picked his bag up, and headed out to American Lit.

I hung back for a moment, waiting until I was sure Troy had rounded the corner, before I moved towards my locker.

The team weren't happy I was going out with him? Was it my fault they were at odds?

I tried to clear my head of all of these thoughts, but they just kept coming back to me whenever I saw the pow-wow of basketball jocks that seemed to be just ahead of me at all times, yet watching me closely.

I checked my schedule to see what I had next, and realized it was my lunch period, so I headed out to wherei thought the lunch hall was.

I got halfway there before I was accosted by the Scholastic Decathalon members, who invited me to sit at their table. Taylor acted as though she'd plucked me from under a stone, and was throwing me into the limelight for the very first time, telling me that it wasn't uncommon, these days, for schools to have teams of bright young things to represent them.

Then she decided that everyone in the cafeteria needed to know that I had been a major player in my other schools' scholastic teams.

I tried to leave more than once, but a girl, whose name I later found out was Martha Cox, gently persuaded me to stay. She, like most of the Decathlon team, is very nice, but I can tell already they're skeptical of my relationship with Troy.

That _bh_ (censored in my mind, for good measure) Sharpay managed to spill her stinky nachos all over Jackson's books.

I kept quiet, although Inner Gabi was raging, rattling around inside my mind. I try not to let the real me out too much. I might scare people.

I left lunch, slightly more annoyed than when I came, and when I brushed past the basketball boys, I caught eyes with the one Troy had pointed out to me as Chad Danforth, his best friend.

I let my inner me have a moment to glare at Chad, before I took off towards my locker. I rammed my books in, without care, and went to find Taylor. I'd soon be demonstrating my freaky genius skills to the whole decathlon team.

I sighed, leaning my head against the bus window, closing my eyes as the cold glass soothed my sudden fever. Around me, students were being loud and happy, while all I wanted to do was crawl into a hole and sleep. I had a horrid headache, and the noise around me made it worse by the minute.

After a few minutes, I opened my eyes, and stared vacantly out of the window.

Automatically, when the bus stopped outside my house, I got to my feet, and moved like a robot towards the front door. As I pushed it open, I felt a strange woozyness come over me, and everything seemed to dance in a very pretty way around me.

Before I realized that I was fainting, I was on the floor, and everything was becoming blessedly black.

I woke up later, in my bed, still with a horrid headache, and looked around without raising my head.

I saw…my bureau…my figurines on my bedside table…a scruffy mess of brown hair that didn't belong, leaning against my bed. He was asleep.

" Troy?" I said weakly. I reached out to touch the top of his head gently. Unconciously, he leaned into my hand, and I nearly giggled. He was so adorable.

"Wake up, Troy," I said softly. He stirred, and looked up at me with sleep-glazed blue eyes.

I nearly giggled, but coughed instead.

"Gabi!" he said suddenly, as though he'd only just realized I was there.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," I said as he moved up towards me.  
"You scared me. And your mum. Imagine what it was like for her to come home to find out passed out just inside the door?"

"I fainted," I said in realization.

"And how about me?" he said, reaching up to stroke my hair. His hand was cool against my hot forehead. "I was in practice, and I tried to call you-"

"You skipped practice?" I asked him, sitting up. I instantly regretted it, as my head throbbed viciously. "You shouldn't have done that. There's enough animosity between us and them already."

He leaned in to kiss my forehead, and laughed gently. "Trust you to use big words when you're sick. It was fine. We'd just finished, and I was going to come over anyway."

He kissed my cheek, while I let Inner Gabi fret for a bit. After a few moments of him stroking my hair gently, I fell asleep, not once wondering about my mother.


End file.
